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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22733014">You’re Like My Soulmate</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/CitrusKix/pseuds/CitrusKix'>CitrusKix</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, Dangan Ronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe, Gay, Gay Panic, M/M, Robots, School Mode (Dangan Ronpa)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-15</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-04-28 17:22:35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,177</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22733014</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/CitrusKix/pseuds/CitrusKix</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>“Thank you Naegi! You’re like my... soulmate!”</p>
<p>“...Soulmate, huh?”</p>
<p>Makoto catches on to the one time Leon calls Makoto his soulmate, and gets more than what he bargained for.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Kuwata Leon/Naegi Makoto</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>124</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You’re Like My Soulmate</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“That’s fine, isn’t it?”</p>
<p>Leon slowly snapped out of his state of deep thinking and came back to reality. “...Huh? Fine?” he questioned. “What is?”</p>
<p>“There’s nothing wrong with you wanting to play baseball,” I told him. “Why would there be? You like what you like. What’s wrong with that?”</p>
<p>Ever since we were trapped inside Hope’s Peak Academy and forced to rummage for stuff around the school to build robots out of, Leon and I started becoming friends. We hung out together, we talked about our interests, and we often teamed up with each other whenever Monokuma made everyone go out to look for parts. And that closeness with each other made it easy for me to tell when something was bothering him.</p>
<p>It was one our designated periods of “free time” for the day, so I figured I’d take Leon to the recreational room to go play a few games of pool to get our minds off the especially strenuous day we had. But when we got there, he seemed... distracted, tense, and unfocused. I got a little worried for him, because he was usually more relaxed and laidback.</p>
<p>And then I could hear it. Voices that sounded like his own, going back and forth with each other in an almost argumentative and contemplative way. Phrases like ‘I don’t have the balls to tell anyone’ and ‘I know what I told everyone’  kept being tossed around in a jumble of what I presumed to be chaos coming from within Leon’s mind.</p>
<p>And that’s when I heard it. ‘After all this time... I just wanna play baseball.’ And without a second thought, I made a leap of faith to try to reach out to it.</p>
<p>Leon just stared at me with wide eyes and a dropped jaw, evident shock being written all over his expression. “N-Naegs... how...? How did you know what I was thinking?” he asked in disbelief.</p>
<p>He grumbled to himself and combed his hand through his hair before speaking up. “Ya know, normally when people are able to guess what you’re thinking... it can be totally irritating, right?” he rhetorically asked. “But...” He folded his arms and closed one of his eyes, like he was deep in thought. “For some reason, I’m not mad at all! Actually... I kinda feel good!” His face lightened up out of deep thought and he laughed a little bit. “What the heck? Thank you, Naegs! You’re like my...” He paused for a moment to think of the best word would be to follow it up with, before finally blurting “soulmate!” out loud.</p>
<p>Normally, I would just let comments like these slip by, as I don’t usually like to poke fun at others for what may just be minor slip-ups, especially with those like Leon; the people that are skittish and get aggressively defensive when they feel threatened by something. But the time I’ve spent with Leon while at Hope’s Peak really helped build a bond between the both of us. So, I teased him about the slip-up.</p>
<p>“Soulmate, huh?”</p>
<p>The instant I said that, Leon’s beaming expression dropped to a look of utter exasperation before retracting to what resembled a mild internal panic as a light red blush dusted his face. “Oh, damn, did I say that?” he questioned. “S-Sorry man, I meant to call you my bro!” His laugh that followed felt extremely forced on his end, making me wonder if it was really just a minor mistake that he made. Before I could even speak up about anything, he piped up with a quick “Well anyways I gotta get going now bye!” and bolted out of the room, leaving me behind.</p>
<p>I stood there absolutely dumbfounded at what just happened. ‘It was just a small mistake he made, right?’ I pondered. ‘Why would he get so... flustered about it?’ I folded my arms, closed my eyes, and began to think things through. ‘Well,’ I began, ‘maybe it was something more, considering his reaction. But who should I talk to about it...?’ A few moments passed before I opened my eyes in realization. I knew who I needed to talk to about this.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>I knocked on the door that I was standing in front of, and took a step back, waiting for it to open. It only took a moment for it to open up, and reveal a girl with long blue hair on the other side of the doorway. “Oh, hi Naegi-san!” she greeted me. “Did you need something?”</p>
<p>I hesitated for a moment, before speaking up. “Is it alright if I come in, Maizono-san?” I asked. “I wanted to ask about something.”</p>
<p>Sayaka looked behind her really quickly before turning back to me. “Uh, sure,” she responded, “if you don’t mind Enoshima-san’s presence, that is.”</p>
<p>“Oh, that’s okay with me,” I told her. “I was actually going to ask her about the same thing later. Sorry, was I interrupting something?”</p>
<p>“Nope!” Junko shouted from within the room. “Maizono-chan and I were just chatting about whatever, so it’s totally fine! Come in, come in! We don’t bite!” She laughed to herself a bit, earning mild chuckles from both Sayaka and I. Sayaka stepped aside and motioned me inside, and I followed in, making sure to close the door behind me.</p>
<p>The two of us made our way over to the small makeshift couch Sayaka had in her room, which was where Junko was reclining, and sat down. “Ooh, there he is!” Junko exclaimed. “The man, the myth, the legend himself! Makoto Naegi!” She bursted out into laugher, but quickly calmed down. “Okay okay okay. So, your thingy.” she commented. “We’re here now, so ask away Naegi-chan!”</p>
<p>“Okay, um...” I thought about the words I wanted to ask for a moment, before asking. “Do you guys know if anything’s been weird with Kuwata-kun lately?”</p>
<p>Their shining expressions of interest quickly shifted over to one’s of confusion as they processed my words and glanced at each other. “Uh, no, not necessarily...” Sayaka responded, uncertainty and concern dripping from her voice. “Why do you ask?”</p>
<p>I thought for a moment on how to phrase my words, before saying to them “He was acting kind of... weird. I was wondering if you knew anything about it.”</p>
<p>Junko pondered on the matter for a few seconds, before looking at me and leaning in a little. “Well,” she began, “what if you gave us a play-by-play of what happened today? That way, we can at least somewhat figure out what Kuwata-chan might be acting weird over.”</p>
<p>“Ooh, that’s a good idea!” Sayaka chimed in. “Plus, it’d at least give us some more context for what this whole thing is about. So c’mon! Tell us what happened!”</p>
<p>“Alright. I suppose it wouldn’t hurt, anyways,” I agreed. I cleared my throat, and began talking. “So, you know how today was kind of tiring for a lot of us, after all the work Monokuma made us do? Well, I figured Kuwata-kun would probably want to unwind a little, so I took him to the Rec Room to play some pool with him. But when we got there, he looked deep in thought, and... and then I heard... voices, or something? I don’t know, but they had Leon’s voice, and one of them was talking about he wants to play baseball, so I just talked to Leon about it. He seemed to unwind and commented on how he’s glad I talked to him about it, and called me his soulmate or something. I thought it was a joke so I teased him about it, but then he went red and laughed really forcefully about it, before bolting out of the room. Does that... is something weird about that?”</p>
<p>When I looked at the two of them, both of their faces had widened eyes and open mouths. They turned to each other and exchanged a few half-finished sentences.</p>
<p>“You don’t think-?”</p>
<p>“Is it possible-?”</p>
<p>“That’s so-“</p>
<p>“I can’t believe-“</p>
<p>Turning back to face me, Sayaka was the first one to fill me in on what they had realized. “Naegi-san,” she started, “I think that Kuwata-san might like you.”</p>
<p>“Huh? Like me?” I asked. “Well, I would certainly hope so. It would be weird a little if he didn’t like me, despite how close we are. At least, I think we’re close.”</p>
<p>“No you dingus!” Junko shouted. I jumped back in my seat with surprise. She quickly realized how loud she was and offered me a quick “Sorry” before continuing. “What Maizono-chan means,” she explained to me, “is that we think Kuwata-chan has like, a crush on you.”</p>
<p>It took me a long - and admittedly almost uncomfortable - time to register in that mind. And when I finally understood it, I just blurted out “You think Kuwata-kun is gay?”</p>
<p>“Uh. No, Naegi-san,” Sayaka corrected me. “He’s dated girls in the past and seemed to enjoy a lot of those dates, so him being gay is out of the question.”</p>
<p>I mulled on it for a bit, unsure of how to respond, so I just asked another question. “If Kuwata-kun like girls,” I started, “but you guys think he likes me, then how does that work?”</p>
<p>“Naegi-chan,” Junko questioned me, “do you not know what a bisexual is?”</p>
<p>“...What’s a bisexual?”</p>
<p>At that very moment, I could see Junko’s poised yet energized style falter as her eyes widened and her jaw dropped in evident shock. Long moments of uncomfortable silence passed before she let out a long, loud, and tired groan. “Japan’s sex ed classes are so bad,” she grumbled. “Not even teaching you about sexualities...” When she finished that thought, she stood up from her spot and turned to face me. “Alright,” she spoke sternly, “a bisexual is a person who is attracted to both boys and girls. Since Kuwata-chan liked girls in the past and probably likes you right now, that hypothetically makes him a bisexual. Do you understand that?”</p>
<p>Mulling over the possibility, I slowly began to nod along in agreement. “Yeah... yeah, that makes sense,” I admitted. “But how did you guys get that from my story?”</p>
<p>“Dude,” Junko continued, “you literally said that he called you his soulmate. That word has like, romantic connotations behind it. It really wasn’t that hard to put two and two together, y’know.”</p>
<p>I silently shrugged in agreement when the monitor in the room flickered on, with static on the screen before Monokuma appeared. “Alright everyone!” the bear began announcing. “Your allotted period of free time for the day is over! Please return to your constructions and excavations as soon as possible!” And with that, Monokuma disappeared as the monitor turned off.</p>
<p>“Awh, I guess we’re going to have to cut this conversation short,” Sayaka sighed in defeat. She got up from her seat and walked over to her door, with Junko and I following suit. As we all stepped out of her room, she locked the door to it shut. “Alright, I’m going to go look around for some more parts. Take care you two!” Sayaka bid is farewell, and then left us by ourselves.</p>
<p>I was about to leave myself when I felt a small grip on my shoulders. Turning my head around to look at Junko, I could see she had the slightest of smiles on her face. “Naegi-chan,” she whispered to me, “if you ever need to talk to someone about this, about you and Kuwata-chan... don’t hesitate to come to me. Okay?” Before I could speak up, she turned around and left me by myself.</p>
<p>Figuring I should get a move on to the garden to look for spare parts - lest I wish to suffer the supposed wrath of Monokuma - I began the journey up the flight of stairs to get to my destination, blocking out the thoughts of Leon being gay for me.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>A few days passed by since the instance, and the friendship between Leon and I returned to how it was before. I never pressed him on the matter, since I figured he himself wouldn’t want to talk about it. But that doesn’t mean it wasn’t on my mind a lot.</p>
<p>I was in the laundry room, washing some dirty clothes of mine, when I heard a familiar voice call out “Hey Naegi-chan!” behind me. Junko then leaned on the washing machine right next to the one I was using, and looked down at me with a small wry smile on her face. “So,” she began, “how’s things been between you and Kuwata-chan lately?”</p>
<p>“Oh, hello Enoshima-san.” I greeted her back. “Things have been fine between us I suppose. And uh, well, we haven’t talked about ‘it’ yet, though it has been on my mind a lot lately.” The washing machine I was using finished, so I swung the door open and began loading the wet clothes into the hamper I was using. “Do you get what I mean?”</p>
<p>Junko trailed behind me, sniggering to herself as I threw my wet clothes into a dryer and started the machine. “Makoto Naegi,” she cooed out, “is it possible that you may, in fact, be in love with Leon Kuwata?”</p>
<p>I could feel my face go scarlet red as soon as her words slipped out of her mouth. Whipping my head around to face her, I quickly yelped out “N-No!”, startling the fashionista at my sudden outburst. She stumbled backwards for a few paces and grabbed the edges of a washing machine behind her, before letting out a ginormous roar of laughter. “W-Why are you laughing?!” I asked, feeling my face go redder than ever before.</p>
<p>Pushing herself off the washing machine and calming down her laughter a little, the fashionista wiped a tear off the edge of her eye with her nail before flicking it away without giving it a second thought. “Because,” she started, “it seems kind of obvious to me that you love him. You just haven’t realized it yet.”</p>
<p>“But Enoshima-san,” I started, “I’m pretty sure I’m straight. I’ve never really felt any sort of attraction to other guys before. What makes you think that Kuwata-kun could change all of that?”</p>
<p>“Because I am a goddess of love!” she exaggeratedly proclaimed, puffing up her chest to show her pride. “I can see and predict how romance will come to be and ultimately blossom! And literally everything in my mind is ringing the bells of love for you two! Are they alarm bells, or are they wedding bells? Who knows? But the end result will most definitely be a really spicy one!”</p>
<p>I pouted to myself in my head, and it was pretty clear based on the way that Junko looked at me that I was visibly upset. “Ah, don’t sweat it,” she told me. “Just let things happen. Let the thought sit on your mind for a while, and see how you feel about it later, okay?” And with that, Junko walked out of the laundry room, only giving me a quick “Cya Naegi-chan!” as she left, not even looking back at me as she said it.</p>
<p>Being alone in the laundry room gave me the space I needed to begin processing the possibility of me liking Leon in a romantic way. ‘I’ve never really felt any sort of attraction to guys before,’ I mentally noted, ‘but I suppose the possibility isn’t entirely out of the question. I’m definitely not gay though, since I did like Maizono-san for a while a few years back... so much to think about.’</p>
<p>My train of thought was interrupted by the ding of the dryer, signaling to me that it was finished. Silently, I took out the clothes and threw them into my borrowed hamper, moving it over to a bench to unload and fold without having the clothes bunched up together. ‘Well, maybe if I sleep on the thought it’ll come to me,’ I said to myself. ‘I guess I’ll just see how it plays out.’</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>Sleeping that night was impossible for me. No matter how hard I tried to sleep, I just couldn’t.</p>
<p>Tossing and turning in my bed, the only thing I could think of was whether or not I liked Leon in a romantic way. ‘I know I promised to take some time to think about it,’ I said in my mind. ‘But I didn’t think it would take away my sleep in the process! This is seriously going to kill me...’</p>
<p>I turned my body to look upward at the ceiling and sighed. ‘Okay Makoto, just think about it,’ I silently instructed myself. ‘Just... think about it and see if you like it or not.’</p>
<p>I let my mind wander for a bit, thinking about Leon and how I felt about him. We were close, despite us coming from pretty different standings in popularity. I was the average person; someone who was liked by people, but never really popular in any regard. Leon, on the other hand, was incredibly popular; he had thousands of followers on all of his social media accounts, and was often bombarded with girls whenever he was outside... at least, that’s what he’s told me. But I do recall girls from my middle school talking about him in high regards, so him attracting a lot of girls was to be expected.</p>
<p>‘Now that I think about it, we do have similar upbringings,’ I thought. And it was true. Both of us came from relatively humble origins, in a middle class family with a little sister figure; in my case, it was Komaru, and in Leon’s case, it was his cousin Kanon... though from what I understood, there was some tension there that he didn’t want to address. But then things changed when he started getting popular.</p>
<p>‘What made him so popular though?’ I questioned. ‘Oh, right, duh. His sports career.’ It was a no-brainer that as the Ultimate Baseball Star, Leon was extremely talented as a baseball player. And that level of talent got him popular over time. ‘He did look really nice in those baseball uniform images I found,’ I thought. ‘Though now that I think about it... I think I might like his current style more...’</p>
<p>And that’s when I felt it. The first heartstring being pulled.</p>
<p>My breathing hitched as my eyes widened in realization. ‘Okay... so you find him to be physically attractive,’ I said to myself. ‘Th-That’s okay. But if it’s just physical attraction, that’d be shallow of me. He’s a person, not an idol to gawk at. And if it was just physical attraction, I won’t even dare do anything to him. I-I need to think about him as a person too.’</p>
<p>We both had chemistry, that I was certain of. At least in a platonic sense, we seemed to get along quite easily. Many other of our classmates had similar upbringings, like Chihiro or Aoi, but Leon and I clicked almost instantly. We hung out often ever since we met, which was pretty much almost every day. We shared a few interests, like comics, but we were at ease with each other.</p>
<p>I knew Leon was anxious about being trapped in Hope’s Peak Academy. He told me about it a while back. But he started becoming more and more relaxed around me. He started talking to me, and he even ended up giving me a nickname in the process. And when he talked... he seemed to be really happy. He was like a light that shone down on a dark street... and I was caught looking at it, like a deer.</p>
<p>A second pull on my heartstrings happened at the thought of his smile, and I could feel my heart skip a beat. ‘Oh... wow,’ I realized. ‘S-So I do like him. Wait, does this mean I’m attracted to guys? I... guess that isn’t bad. B-But I don’t think it’s anything more than a crush if I can’t imagine us together in the future.’</p>
<p>And as if the universe decided to prove me wrong at that very moment, my mind immediately started envisioning a life where Leon and I were together as a couple. We held hands, we went on cheesy dates, we cuddled on a couch in front of a TV, we got married in a rose garden with our family and friends there witnessing it and cheering for us, we raised two kids together, we watched our kids move out to pursue their own dreams and goals and aspirations in life, we sold our home and moved to a smaller place during our retirement... and we spent our elderly years together, on a patio in our backyard, watching the sun rise and fall. It seemed perfect. It was the perfect life. I... wanted it.</p>
<p>‘Oh my goodness. She was right all along.’</p>
<p>Just as Junko has proclaimed, I was, indeed, in love with Leon Kuwata.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>I ended up not being able to sleep whatsoever that night, so I spent the entire day afterwards lazily working on whatever it was Monokuma had ordered me to work on. But that night, I ended up having a long sleep that made me feel extremely refreshed and ready for whatever life had to throw at me, so I took it as my opportunity to see if Leon did indeed like guys, and whether or not he liked me in the same way that I had realized I liked him.</p>
<p>To start things off, I figured the best way to ease him into it would be to head to the Rec Room and play some pool. Both of us already knew how to play it, and we’ve played it with each other before, so it made sense. Plus, the recreational room was the room where the whole “soulmate” incident went down, so it was fitting to talk about romance in that room. At least, that’s what my nerve wracked mind told me.</p>
<p>As I was setting up the game, it was Leon who ended up initiating the conversation, much to my surprise. “So,” he started. “You’ve kind of been quiet lately. Everything okay Naegs?”</p>
<p>“Oh, yeah, everything’s fine,” I told him. “I just wanted to give you some space, after, er... ‘that’.”</p>
<p>“Ah, I see.”</p>
<p>There was a mild awkward silence between us as I finished setting up the game. “Alright, I have everything ready,” I said to him. “Do you want to take the first shot, or should I?” He silently gestured at me to go ahead and have the honors, lifting the crate that held the pool balls in place as he did so. I aimed my stick and hit the cue ball, knocking the other pool balls everywhere. Two of the balls managed to fall into the pockets on opposite sides of the pool table.</p>
<p>“Yo, nice going Naegs!” Leon cheered. “First shot’s usually got the best chances of getting the most balls. But I won’t go easy on you!” Leon positioned himself in front of the cue ball and made his move, only for the cue ball to bounce and fail to even hit any of the other pool balls. “Awh, what the heck?!” he yelled. “How the hell did it bounce?!”</p>
<p>“I guess you probably just hit it from the under a bit too hard,” I told him, laughing from the whole incident. “You do have a pretty forceful hand, after all. It has to be strong from all those baseballs you probably pitched when you used to play the sport.”</p>
<p>The angry snarl on Leon’s face slowly dissipated as he watched me laugh, eventually laughing along as well. “Yeah, I guess so. Gotta have good hands to pitch and hit, y’know?” he said. The both of us came down from our fits of laughter, and that’s when Leon popped a question. “So, um, I wanted to ask you something,” he began. “What exactly have you been doing while you were waiting for me to uh... yeah?”</p>
<p>I hesitated for a moment, but eventually told him “I was honestly wondering how you haven’t tried hitting on anyone so far.” It wasn’t exactly a lie, but I figured it was for the best to hold back on sharing the revelation I had for now. “And besides,” I continued. “There are a few cute girls here. Like Maizono-san, for example. She seems to be your type.”</p>
<p>“Well, yeah, she’s my type and all, but I um uh... I kind of already have my eyes set on someone else.”</p>
<p>After I finished taking my shot and scoring another pool ball for myself, I looked up at Leon and saw that he was averting his eyes from me and that his cheeks had started blushing a shade of light red. ‘Makoto, this is your chance!’ I told myself. ‘Ask him the question!’ “Oh, really?” I asked him. “What are they like?”</p>
<p>His blush turned into a darker shade of red as he groaned and said to me “Dude, do you really want me to tell you my love life or something?” He combed his hand through his hair, stopping halfway up his scalp when he sighed in defeat and gave me a small “Fine” before returning to the pool game and failing to get any more pool balls in the pockets once more. “Well, uh... they’re in our class...”</p>
<p>I started making a mental note list of all the characteristics he said, and which could be applied to me. ‘I’m definitely in his class.’</p>
<p>“And they’re a bit younger than me...”</p>
<p>‘I’m a month and a few weeks younger than him.’</p>
<p>“And they’re shorter than me as well...”</p>
<p>‘Me again.’</p>
<p>“And they’re also really kind hearted to practically everyone they meet...”</p>
<p>‘This sounds a bit egotistical, but I suppose that fits me as well.’</p>
<p>“And um... I really like hanging out with them. A lot.”</p>
<p>That last descriptor made my heart skip a beat, and it was my turn to get red in the face. Leon finally looked over at me, still red on his own face. “Do you think you know anyone that matches those descriptions, Naegs?” he asked me.</p>
<p>“Y-Yeah...” I admitted. “Yeah, I think I do.”</p>
<p>We ended up finishing the rest of the pool game in complete and utter silence before Monokuma told us that our free time was over, where we split up and went our own separate ways.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>“Wait, so let me get this straight. You took him out to play some pool, asked him who he was attracted to, and even though he listed literally every single descriptor that fits you, you didn’t even have the guts to ask him who he likes?”</p>
<p>“...Well, when you put it like that, it really makes me sound pathetic...”</p>
<p>Figuring that it would be best to confide in the two people who helped me start everything, I asked both Sayaka and Junko to meet with me in my room the following morning to discuss the events of the pool session, as well as my realization of my attraction towards Leon.</p>
<p>Of course, getting yelled at by Junko was something that I should’ve anticipated for, but didn’t.</p>
<p>“Well of course it’s pathetic!” she shouted. “I get you’re new to the whole thing about liking guys, but passiveness isn’t cute! Assertiveness is! Quit being a herbivore Naegi-chan! Be a carnivore!”</p>
<p>“Wh-What she means is that she was looking forward to hearing about you two getting together,” Sayaka interjected. Junko poured and looked away as Sayaka glared at her momentarily for her rather volatile behavior, before turning her attention back to me. “She just wants you two to be happy.”</p>
<p>“I want to see them suck face!”</p>
<p>“Enoshima-san! He’s literally right there!”</p>
<p>“I know! Naegi-chan, just make out with Kuwata-chan already! My heart can’t take this gay angst anymore!”</p>
<p>“...Maizono-san, do you know what she’s going on about?”</p>
<p>“...Sometimes, I really don’t. And this is one of those times.”</p>
<p>“...I’m sorry for your loss Maizono-san.”</p>
<p>Junko groaned in frustration and turned her attention over to me. “Look, if you two don’t get together by the time we’re done with that robot we’ve been working on for the past month or so, I’m setting you two up,” she told me. “What the set up will be has yet to be decided, but it’ll either be a candlelit dinner by a pier or a life or death scenario where one or both of you could die. It’ll probably be the former though.”</p>
<p>Ever since we all arrived at Hope’s Peak Academy, Monokuma has been working us to the ground on building a robot identical to him. The only key difference is that it seemed be a magical girl rabbit or something. Hifumi seemed to have been murmuring something about “Magical Girl Usami” when the project was revealed to us, though I chose not to inquire about it for... sanitary reasons. He was practically foaming and drooling at the mouth at the thought of the robot, which creeped me out.</p>
<p>“Alright, alright, fine,” I gave in. “I’ll... try to talk to Kuwata-kun about it when the robot’s done.”</p>
<p>“You’ll try to? Or you will?” Junko inquired. “There’s a major difference between the two, Naegi-chan. You can’t fool me.”</p>
<p>“...I will.”</p>
<p>Junko beamed with excitement. “Awesome! Can’t wait to see the results!” she exclaimed. All Sayaka and I could do was laugh awkwardly at the whole ordeal.</p>
<p>It was a talk I was not looking forward to.</p>
<p>-</p>
<p>The events that unfolded after the end of the robot’s completion were completely and utterly bizarre. If you weren’t there to witness it, you’d probably say it was a hallucination or something of the sort. But despite how crazy it all was, it happened.</p>
<p>The first thing that we did was congregate in the gymnasium, where Monokuma told us that one of us had to die for the sake of the robot. And he chose me to be the sacrifice.</p>
<p>But then, the robot that we had built together came to life and fought Monokuma off, beating him up and practically discarding him as if he was just another piece of trash in a junkyard pile. I caught a glimpse of Hifumi, and he had the most bizarre look of astonishment and glee written all over his face as he pretty much howled in excitement over the whole scuffle.</p>
<p>Then the robot introduced itself as Usami, which garnered an ecstatic response from Hifumi as he went on into the background, dancing and cheering about how his “waifu came to laifu”. It then instructed us to grab our things and get ready to leave as it opened the vault door that held us all captive in the walls of Hope’s Peak Academy. Many of our classmates went to go do exactly as Usami instructed us to do. I instead went to go look for Leon.</p>
<p>After scouring the facility for a while, I ended up finding him lounging about by one of the tables at the cafeteria, tossing a baseball up in the air and catching it as it fell back down. He noticed me enter, and exclaimed “Naegs!” as the baseball he was tossing landed on his head, and he let out a small yelp of pain as he fell over from his chair.</p>
<p>He picked himself up from the floor and dusted his clothes as I made my way over to him. “Yo!” he greeted me. “How’s uh... how’s everything going for you? You getting your prep work done?”</p>
<p>“Well, actually,” I began. “I wanted to talk to you about, um... a lot of stuff.”</p>
<p>Leon’s attitude shifted over to be more serious, and the grin on his face changed into a focused and worried sort of look. “S-Sure, I’m fine with that,” he said to me. “What did you have in mind?”</p>
<p>“I wanted to talk about you calling me your soulmate.”</p>
<p>I could audibly hear Leon gulp out of fear when I brought the incident up. Up to this point, we hadn’t directly mentioned it whatsoever. But now was a better time to rip the bandage off than ever.</p>
<p>“I’ve been thinking about it,” I started. “And I even talked to a few others about it. And as we talked it over and thought about it... I’ve come to realize something.”</p>
<p>“Y-Yeah?” Leon asked, his teeth chattering in anticipation. “W-What did you realize...?”</p>
<p>“...I like you, Leon Kuwata.”</p>
<p>The moment I confessed my feelings to him, I could visibly see Leon’s anxieties melt away and be replaced by an intensive red blush on his entire face. “You... do?” he meekly asked. It was really out of character for him, what with his player facade and all. But this was him. And I wanted to tell him how I felt.</p>
<p>I nodded. “I know I’m not the most popular person in the world,” I told him. “And I’m not the most wealthy, or the smartest, or the hottest. And I’m not a girl, so us being together as a thing would definitely draw some attention to you... attention that might be bad. A-And I know I’m risking our friendship for this... but I can’t really hide it. I’m sorry if this hurt you in any way, Kuwata-kun. I just... needed to tell you.”</p>
<p>“No, don’t be sorry... I’m happy.”</p>
<p>Tears of happiness rolled down his cheeks as he gently wiped them away. “Naegs... thank you,” he said. “Thank you for letting me know that I’m not dumb or weird for liking a guy. Thank you for letting me know that my feelings are mutual.”</p>
<p>“W-Wait, does this mean...?”</p>
<p>“...Yeah. I like you too, Makoto Naegi.”</p>
<p>Leon finally stopped crying, and spilled everything I needed to know. “I’ve pretty much always known I’ve liked guys,” he told me. “And truth be told... I was kind of scared of liking guys. I-I know how our society can be with gay people. Dismissive, discriminatory... the whole works. Doesn’t help that I was also part of the whole homophobic sports group. I had an image of liking girls to maintain. D-Don’t get me wrong, I do like girls as well! But seeing you, and being around you... I was at ease. I felt a connection with you. That’s why I called you my soulmate.”</p>
<p>Without even thinking about it, I just ran up to him and wrapped my arms around him, giving him the tightest hug I could muster. Leon was taken aback by the sudden gesture, but then relaxed and accepted it, returning the favor to the best he could. “Thank you for telling me everything... Leon.”</p>
<p>“And thanks for letting me be me... Makoto.”</p>
<p>“Oh come on! Where’s the kissing?! The passion?! I need my fix, you two!”</p>
<p>Jolted back to reality by the sudden realization that someone had been watching us the whole time, we both whirled our heads around to look over at the source of the voice; it was none other than Junko, sitting behind the window sill and slurping water out of a translucent plastic cup with a plastic straw. “E-Enoshima?!” Leon shouted. “Just how long have you been there?!”</p>
<p>“There whole time!” she responded. “Now, if you two want to get out of this place and live a life of gayness together, take your bags and let’s get the heck out of here!” Through the window, she tossed two black duffel bags with the Hope’s Peak Academy insignia stenciled on top of them.</p>
<p>“Uh, Enoshima-san?” I asked. “How did you even get ahold of our stuff?”</p>
<p>“Oh, Maizono-chan and I broke into your rooms and packaged stuff for you! We just wanted to see this moment!”</p>
<p>“...We?”</p>
<p>“Well, it’s less so ‘we’, and more so ‘Enoshima-san and I’.”</p>
<p>From behind the entry to the kitchen came Sayaka, slightly blushing in embarrassment. “S-Sorry for going through your guys’ stuff,” she apologized. “Enoshima-san just really wanted to see you two, er, kiss.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, and I’m still mad that you haven’t kissed yet! C’mon! Suck face already!”</p>
<p>“...Makoto, please tell me you didn’t go to Enoshima for consolidation.”</p>
<p>“...If it makes you feel better, I went to Maizono-san first, and Enoshima-san just happened to be there.”</p>
<p>“...It doesn’t. It really doesn’t.”</p>
<p>I sighed. “Well, I think we can all agree it’s time to leave this place behind,” I said to everyone. “We all have things we want to do, and it’s about time we go do them.”</p>
<p>Leon grabbed both of our bags and slung them around his shoulders. “Well, there’s no time to waste then!” he exclaimed. “Let’s get started on everything!” He gently unfurled his hand out to me. “Shall we?”</p>
<p>I blushed, and reached out to grab his hand. “...We shall.” The both of us walked out of the cafeteria, ready to start a new chapter in both of ours lives. One with each other as a prominent part of it.</p>
<p>“Enoshima-san, aren’t you sad that you didn’t get your kiss?”</p>
<p>“Hm? Oh, don’t worry Maizono-chan. I’m getting my kiss. In three... two... one... now.”</p>
<p>“D-Did you just k-k-kiss me?!”</p>
<p>“Boom, there we go! I can finally die happy now.”</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Happy belated Valentine’s Day everyone!</p>
<p>I meant to finish this as soon as I could, but I ended up finishing it at 12:09 AM on the 15th. It was a lot longer than I anticipated, though I can’t really complain. I had this fic on the back burner for a year now, so getting it out there feels really nice.</p>
<p>Thank you for reading!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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